Our Moral Life in Christ
Grace is a supernatural gift of God bestowed on us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our salvation. We can never deserve grace through our own actions. (See Rom 11:5-6)
CCC 2021: “Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.”
There are two kinds of grace: sanctifying grace and actual grace. Sanctifying grace is a permanent, supernatural gift from God that is infused into the soul by the Holy Spirit to heal it of sin, make it holy, and allow a person to share in the divine life. It is the grace that confers on our souls a new life, that is, a sharing in the life of God himself. We receive this grace in Baptism, nourish it in the Eucharist, and have it restored by the sacrament of Penance if we lose it by committing mortal sin. It is the gift of divine life whereby God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit live in us. Sanctifying grace makes us holy and pleasing to God, adopted children of the Father, brothers and sisters of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit.
The divine life in us gives an entirely new value to our actions, prayers, works, joys, sufferings, and relations. Through sanctifying grace, our actions are truly acts of children of God, deserving an everlasting reward. Sanctifying grace – the divine life – is for us the beginning of heaven. We possess God already but in a mysterious way. In heaven, we will possess God, seeing him face to face as he is. That is why we call sanctifying grace “the seed of eternal life.”
CCC 2024: “Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God." Charisms, special graces of the Holy Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual grace which is permanent in us.”
Actual grace is a temporary, passing help or intervention from God that enlightens the mind and moves the will to do good and avoid evil. It is a supernatural help of God that strengthens our will. Through actual grace, God helps us to obtain and preserve sanctifying grace, which is the divine life in us. He gives light to our minds, love to our hearts and strength to our will in order to see, desire, and carry out what is good. Actual grace is necessary for all who have attained the use of reason; without it, we cannot carry our acts that merit a reward in heaven nor continuously resist the power of temptation. Without actual grace, we cannot keep ourselves for long in the state of sanctifying grace.
The baptized person will fulfill the precepts of Christian morality to the degree that he cooperates with the grace of God, which is always present within him. When Christians are not faithful to their belief and practices it becomes impossible for him to live the style of life proposed by Jesus Christ. Since Christian ethics deals with a life lived on the level of God, it can be realized only with the aid of grace. Therefore, the fulfillment of the ethical requirements of the Gospel require the aid of God’s grace, since they are above human strength and beyond natural human accomplishment.
“What is the ultimate source of this inner division of man? His history of sin begins when he no longer acknowledges the Lord as his Creator and himself wishes to be the one who determines, with complete independence, what is good and what is evil. "You will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5): this was the first temptation, and it is echoed in all the other temptations to which man is more easily inclined to yield as a result of the original Fall. But temptations can be overcome, sins can be avoided, because together with the commandments the Lord gives us the possibility of keeping them: "His eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every deed of man. He has not commanded any one to be ungodly, and he has not given any one permission to sin" (Sir 15:19-20). Keeping God's law in particular situations can be difficult, extremely difficult, but it is never impossible.” [VERITATIS SPLENDOR, 102 – Pope John Paul II ENCYCLICAL]
It is nearly impossible to forgive one’s enemies, to be just, or to be truly chaste if one places his trust in human strength alone. But it becomes possible if the believer cooperates with grace, is faithful to the love of God, and is united to his will. God’s grace has the power to keep us united to his will. In short, to be Christ-like is to be a person who fully understands and lives Christian morality.
““Dear children! Also, today I call you to prayer. Little children believe that by simple prayer miracles can be worked. Through your prayer you open your heart to God and He works miracles in your life. By looking at the fruits, your heart fills with joy and gratitude to God for everything He does in your life and, through you, also to others. Pray and believe little children, God gives you graces and you do not see them. Pray and you will see them. May your day be filled with prayer and thanksgiving for everything that God gives you. Thank you for having responded to my call.””
